National Affairs: Field of Doubt

In April 1938 the name of Dr. Arthur E. Morgan was on every front page in the land. His expulsion from his post as TVA chairman by President Roosevelt brought the cry from New Hampshire’s Senator Bridges, “This is an American Dreyfus case.” But by last week most U. S. citizens had forgotten the tall, slant-jawed “Bald Eagle” of Yellow Springs, Ohio, were surprised to learn he was still in there fighting.

Last week he lost the first round of a legal bout he has vowed to carry to the Supreme Court. Judge George C. Taylor of Federal District Court in Knoxville ruled that the President “has the power of removal as an incident to the power of appointment,” but admitted that previous Supreme Court decisions in the Myers and Humphrey cases have left “a field of doubt” for future exploration. Mr. Morgan’s attorneys, still challenging the President’s power of removal and seeking $2,961.66 in back salary for the explosive old engineer and educator, promised an appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals.